When comparing Native vs Inconsolata, the Slant community recommends Inconsolata for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” Inconsolata is ranked 52nd while Native is ranked 79th. The most important reason people chose Inconsolata is:
The characters in Inconsolata have a slightly "wide" appearance that aids in readability, especially at small font sizes.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Readable
Pro Consistent character widths between the italics and weights
Within Native's weights and styles, each character occupies 580 points of space. This ensures code does not become misaligned if a developer prefers certain callouts in a different style.
Pro The regular weight is free for Desktop, Web, and App Licensing
The regular weight can be picked up free of charge on MyFonts or Fort Foundry’s site.
Pro No alignment issues when switching between styles
Pro Italics are given a lot of differentiation
Pro Characters readable even at small sizes
The characters in Inconsolata have a slightly "wide" appearance that aids in readability, especially at small font sizes.
Pro Excellent readability
Very clear, distinct characters with decent spacing make Inconsolata very readable.
Pro Efficient scalability
Inconsolata scales well without loss of readability.
Pro Slashed zero characters are distinguishable from capital "O" and "Q" characters
Inconsolata-g screws this up by replacing the slashed zero with a dotted zero. A dotted zero is better than a zero with nothing in it, but worse than a slashed zero.
Pro Open source
It's an open source font, meaning it's freely available.
Pro No visible character breaks
Inconsolata renders lines in TUIs without visible character breaks; apparently unlike Inconsolata-g.
Pro Widely available
Inconsolata is available in the package managers of almost every open source OS.
Cons
Con Not FREE
Not free and hard to find.
Con Arched braces
Too much arched braces, decreases clarity, touching characters almost.